In brief

The comfort and safety of my messy desk in London is a world away from the front line on which the bravest journalists stand.

Lyra McKee, an investigative reporter experienced in covering the fallout of violence in Northern Ireland, probably didn’t give a second thought to approaching the scene of rioting on the Creggan estate in Londonderry. This was a story that needed to be reported.

She was standing next to a police vehicle when she was shot and killed. How sad and sickening that she became the story.

The news has caused shockwaves – not just because she was young, clever and popular, and not just because she was a pioneering voice for gay rights. But because the echoes of the Troubles in which so many young lives were lost are now reverberating louder as tensions escalate once again.

Ordinary dreams, extraordinary woman

A Lyra McKee family photo

Ms McKee was surely on the cusp of a stellar career. She had been listed in the Forbes “30 under 30 in media” list in 2016, and her first book – a non-fiction exploration of the murder of Robert Bradford – was due to be published soon.

Her journalism will hopefully go on to be read by many. But some things cannot live on.

In a letter that McKee wrote to her 14-year-old self in 2014, she told the teenage Lyra: “You will spend time with your mum. You will go to work and pay your bills. You will go to the cinema with your best friend.”

The ordinary life of an extraordinary young woman has been snatched away. And that is the greatest tragedy of all.

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